Rotary road-grader.



A. M. PETERSON.

ROTARY ROAD GRADER.

APPLICATION man 0156.5, 1914.

1,175,174. Patented Mar. 14,1916.

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ROTARY ROAD GRADER. APPLICATION FlLED DEC-5,19I4.

Patented Mar. 14,1916.

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ROTARY ROAD GRADE R.

APPLICATION FILED Inc'- 5. 1914.

Patented Mar. 14,1916.

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Nw uh m w abtoznc ANDREW I. PETEBSON, OF GOODHUE, MINNESOTA.

ROTARY ROAD-GRADEB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' h iplieationfiledlleeember 5,1914. Seriall'o.875,660.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW M. PETERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Goodhue, in the county of Goodhue and State of lldinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Road-Graders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to road making de vices, particularly to road graders, and has for its object the provision of a road grader adapted to be driven by a traction engine and propelled thereby over the road to be graded, and so constructed as to cut a level or pitched road and to distribute the earth cut away onto the center ofthe road, onto the side of the road for filling up holes or into a wagon traveling beside the device.

An important object is to provide a device of this character which is capable of adjustment for varying the depth of the cut ac- I cording to how much the surface acted upon may be rutted or worn, and which has means fog changing the degree of pitch of either 51 e. c

A further obj e'ct is the provision of a. road grader which will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture, eflicient and durable in service, positive in operation and a. general improvement of the art.

With these andother objects and advantages in view, this invention -consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the 1 accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure '1 is a plan view of my grader shown connected with the rear of a tractor, Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof, Fig. 3 is an elevation of one side, Fig. 4: is an elevation of the opposite side, Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view through the cutting wheel,

' and Fig. 6 is a. perspective view of one of the cutting shovels provided with digging teeth.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the main bars of the main frame which are adapted for any suitable connection with the rear axle 2 of a tractor. Other bars 3 are secured upon the bars 1 and together with the bars I carry boxings 4r journally receiving an axle 5 carrying wheels 6 upon its ends.

The movable frame comprises longltudinal bars 7 having brackets 8 and 9 secured upon their lower sides, the brackets being oppo sltely disposed. One of the side bars 1 of Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

the main frame is pivotally connected as and engaging the block 12, the screw 13' being provided upon its upper end with a 7 hand wheel 14 whereby it may be rotated. By turning the screw 13 in one direction or the other the block 12 and consequently one side bar 1 will be moved either up or down, thus tilting the movable frame to either side or holding it level.

The movable frame further comprises upper and lower spaced arms 15 which have journaled upon their ends rollers 16 and which are secured upon the bars 7, the rear ends of the upper of these arms being extended upwardly and then downwardly to form brackets 17 disposed above the bars 7;

The cutting wheel comprises a pair of annular rings 18 formed as sprockets and connected by cross bars 19. This cutting wheel is mounted upon the movable frame by disposing the ring sprockets 18 so that the mner peripheries 20 of their central openings will engage the rollers 16 and other rollers 21 'journaled upon the tops of the bars 7. The sprockets 18 are thus supported at four points and are free to rotate relatively to the frames,- the rollers 16 and 21 being flanged to prevent lateral movement of the sprockets. The cutting wheel further comprises a "plurality of scoops or shovels 22 secured upon bars 23 which are in turn secured upon the cross bars 19 in-tangential relation to the periphery of the wheel. The shovels 22 are arranged spirally around the periphery of the cutting wheel and are curved in cross section to enable them to retain earth cut away. If desired the shovels may be provided with digging teeth 24 as shown in Fig. 6.

The means for driving the cutting wheel comprises a shaft 25 journaled through bearings secured upon the brackets 17 and provided adjacent its ends with sprockets 26 about which are trained chains 27 extending over the ring sprockets 18. The shaft 25 is further provided with a. sprocket 28 113- adapted to be driven from the tractor for operating the entire device.

The earth discharging portion of my device comprises laterally extending bars 29 connected with the forward part of the -ported at intervals by idle rollers 39 journaled. on the bars 29 and the chains 34 are steadied and held taut by idlers 40 j ournaled,

in brackets 41 secured upon the bars 29. It will be observed that the conveyer thus formed extends through the center of the cutting wheel and that the cutting wheel is free to rotate freely around the conveyer. This discharge conveyer is driven from the shaft 25 by means of a bevel gear 42 secured on one end of the shaft 25 and meshing with a similar gear 43 secured on a shaft 44 ]ournaled through a bracket 45 and carrying upon its end a sprocket 46 having a chain 47 trained thereover and over a sprocket 48 secured on the shaft 31. As the shaft 25 is driven, the cutting wheel and discharge conveyer will both be operated.

The use and operation of the device is as follows: The grader is attached to the rear end of a tractor, whereupon the tractor is moved backward to move the grader along over the surface to be graded. As the shaft 25 is constantly rotating, the rotation of the cutting wheel will cause the shovels 22 to successively engage and cut into the ground. As each shovel moves forward it makes a cut and carries the cut away earth upwardly. As the shovels approach their uppermost positions, the earth carried by them will fall upon the apron 37 and be carried thereby and discharged onto the center or side of a road, depending upon the position of the grader. A deflecting plate 49 is secured upon the arms 15 and extends entirely across the inside of the cutting wheel for guiding the falling earth dumped from the shovels onto the apron 37 and preventing it from falling back upon the ground.

In order that the earth discharged from the conveyer 37 may be evenly distributed and not merely dumped in piles, I provide a distributercomprising a board or plate 50 pivoted upon brackets 51 on. the ends of the arms 29. In order that the plate 50 may be oscillated, I provide a gear 52 on the shaft 44 meshing with a gear 53 on a shaft 54 journaled through the bars 29. Cranks 55 are formed on the ends of the shaft'54 and have pitmen 56 connected therewith, the pitmen being further connected with the plate 50. Through this mechanism the plate 50 will be moved .up and down as the grader is swarm operated and will consequently distribute the discharged earth. more evenly. It will of course be understood that if it is desired to load the dirt into wagons, the distributor board 50 would be removed.

In cutting a pitched road, the grader is positioned on the side of the road and the screw 13 is manipulated to tilt the movable frame carrying the cutting wheel laterallyso as to cut at the desired angle. The outer end of the discharge conveyer will be disposed over approximately the center of the road, and as the grader is propelled over the ground by the tractor and the cutting wheel, discharge conveyer and distributer operated, the earth will be cut away from the side portion of the road and carried by and discharged from the conveyer onto the middle of the road, and be evenly dis tributed thus eliiminating the use of workmen with shovels. As the grader is in advance of the tractor, the tractor will always have good road to move over.

In order that the depth of the out of the shovels may be varied, I provide means for lowering or raising the forward end of the movable frame. This means comprises a shaft 57 journaled across the bars 1 and carrying a Windlass 58 about which is wound one end of a cable 59, which is trained over a pulley 60 on one bar 7, under a pulley 61 on the adjacent bar 1, under a pulley 62 on the other bar 1, over a pulley 63 on. the other bar' 7, and which has its other end secured upon one bar 1 as shown at 64. A worm wheel 65 is secured on. the shaft 57 and is engaged by a worm 66 on a shaft 67 journaled through a bracket 68 and provided with a hand wheel 69.

By turning the worm 66 to wind the cable upon the Windlass, the cutting wheel will be elevated and the cut madewill be shallow. By turning the worm to unwind the windlass the forward end. of the movable frame and consequently the cutting wheel will be lowered. and a deeper out will be made.

From the foregoing description. and a study of the drawings it will be apparent that I have thus provided a road graderwhich may be adjusted as to depth of out, which may be regulated to cut a flat road or a road having any desired pitch, and which ,will operate quickly, positively and eco nomically.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. A road grader comprising a main frame, a movable frame, brackets secured to said movable frame, a block slidable in one of said brackets, one side of said main frame being pivoted to said block, the other side of said main frame being pivoted to the other of said brackets, a screw engaging said block and threaded through said movable frame, a cutting wheel carried by said able frame said brackets extending away frame and forming arms,-rollers 5 from said journaled on the ends of said arms, other rollers journaled on sald movable frame,

flanges on all of said rollers, and a cutting wheel mounted on said rollers:

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my 20 signature in'the presence of two witnesses. ANDREW M. PETERSON.

Witnesses:

FRANK T. OGoRMAN, Mrs. 1 31112111: T. OGoRMAN. 

